First program..

[Tman]

Yep, I'm you're new C newbie
I just started learning C (actually I already knew a lot of it, like the structure), and I've learned pretty quickly. But no one I've asked has found the bug yet. I asked the question over at Flashdaddee, but their C forum isn't very busy. Anyway, here it is. For some reason it doesn't realize it when I type 'Tman' as my username. In case it matters, I'm using djgpp as my compiler.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(void)
{
char nick[40];
char pass[40];
int age;

//Gather user's info here:
printf("Welcome to a program made by Tman \n");
printf("What is your (nick)name? ");
gets(nick);
printf("\nHow old are you? ");
scanf("%d", &age);

//Now process it:
if(strcmp(nick, "Tman") == 0){
        printf("You're not Tman! Prove it! What's the password, then? ");
        gets(pass);
        goto check_pass;
}

process:
printf("\n\nHello, %s.\n", nick);
printf("So you're %d, eh? \n", age);
printf("\nThanks for using my program!");
return 0;

check_pass:
if(strcmp(pass, "xYz123") == 0) {
        printf("\nOkay, so I was wrong.  Welcome, Tman! ");
} else {
        printf("\nHa! Caught ya! Nope, %s is not the right password.", pass);
}
goto process;
}

Can anybody find my problem?

[Tman]

c'mon! I you can't find anything just tell me so at least I know you thought about me..

[Prelude]

Your call to scanf leaves a newline in the input buffer, the next request for input takes the newline and ends. So the program muxes up. This should work better:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(void)
{
  char nick[40];
  char pass[40];
  int age;

  //Gather user's info here:
  printf("Welcome to a program made by Tman \n");
  printf("What is your (nick)name? ");
  gets(nick);
  printf("\nHow old are you? ");
  scanf("%d", &age);
  while ( getchar() != '\n' );

  //Now process it:
  if(strcmp(nick, "Tman") == 0){
    printf("You're not Tman! Prove it! What's the password, then? ");
    gets(pass);
    goto check_pass;
  }

process:
  printf("\n\nHello, %s.\n", nick);
  printf("So you're %d, eh? \n", age);
  printf("\nThanks for using my program!\n");
  return 0;

check_pass:
  if(strcmp(pass, "xYz123") == 0) {
    printf("\nOkay, so I was wrong.  Welcome, Tman! ");
  } else {
    printf("\nHa! Caught ya! Nope, %s is not the right password.", pass);
  }
  goto process;
}

And if you must use goto, only jump forward in the program, not backward. This minimizes confusion.

-Prelude

[Tman]

Thanks! It works! I know, I should use procedures/functions/whatever-you-call-them , but I'm just focused on making a working program. Ok, my next input call would be the one for the password (as long as 'Tman' is the nick), which comes after the printf that says 'prove it!'. But I don't see any output to the screen like that! I just don't understand..

[Prelude]

>But I don't see any output to the screen like that! I just don't understand..
Remember how I said that the call to scanf left a newline character in the input stream? The gets function uses the newline character as it's stopping point for reads, so it will read a newline as the first character and immediately end. The array that you were assigning to will still hold uninitialized values and when you compare it with the password, the comparison fails. Note that gets doesn't wait for the user to enter anything if there is already data in the stream, so you don't get a chance to enter anything.

-Prelude

[Tman]

Yes, but the program asks for the nick after I use scanf!

[Prelude]

Asks after scanf? Prelude is confused:

printf("Welcome to a program made by Tman \n");
/* Ask for the name */
printf("What is your (nick)name? ");
/* Get the name with a nasty buggy function */
gets(nick);
printf("\nHow old are you? ");
/* scanf, definitely after asking for the nick and recieving it */
scanf("%d", &age);
while ( getchar() != '\n' );

//Now process it:
if(strcmp(nick, "Tman") == 0){
  /* Perhaps you mean it asks for the password? */
  printf("You're not Tman! Prove it! What's the password, then? ");
  gets(pass);
  goto check_pass;
}

For me, the program asks for the name, then the age, then if the name is Tman it asks for the password. If the name isn't Tman it skips the entire password process. Are you getting something different?

-Prelude

[Unregistered]

printf( "\nHow old are you?" ), fflush( stdout );

[Hammer]

Originally posted by Tman
Yep, I'm you're new C newbie
I just started learning C (actually I already knew a lot of it, like the structure), and I've learned pretty quickly.

I don't want to start another goto argument in this thread (there's been plenty in the past
), so I'll keep it short and sweeet.

Don't use goto unless you absolutely have to. Apparently there are places in code where goto is good to have, but personally I've never seen one in any code I've looked at. Control the flow with the other things, like loops and if statements. Sorry, but having 3 labels in a program the size you have written is not good

Also, I know you've tried gets() and fgets(), but now you've toyed, forget about gets(), and stick with fgets(). If you are worried about the newline character fgets() puts in the array, just use this simple snippet to remove it:

len = strlen(myarray);
if (myarray[len-1] == '\n') myarray[len-1] = '\0';

Finally, welcome to cprogramming.com

[Tman]

d'oh: change that to before My point is what does that newline character have to do with anything? Nothing ever got input after i used fgets, the if function wasn't working, but take that character away and the if function magically works. Why?

Hammer, I know, I know, I'll fix it, but this is my first C program so chill out

[Tman]

ok, hammer told me to make sure that scanf() recieve a string input from the user.. how? Would it be easiest to make my own scanf() with getchar() and checking?

[billholm]

>>My point is what does that newline character have to do with anything? Nothing ever got input after i used fgets.

I have a similar question in mind. Why does a newline (which I suppose was truncated from gets()) affect the program flow? It's supposed to be discarded from the buffer stream. I had a similar program flow to that of yours Tman: first gets() then scanf() then strcmp(), but it worked fine when I tested it. I use Borland C++ 3.1. Could it be a bug?

PS.
A logic bug exists in Turbo C 2.0. It has something to do with the compiler's tokenizing of the switch() statement. It's a rare one, but I was fortunate enough to have bumped into that.

[Hammer]

- Newline in string problem.

Consider the following:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(void)
{
	char buf[BUFSIZ];
	
	if (fgets(buf, BUFSIZ, stdin))
	{
		printf ("You entered >%s<\n", buf);
		if (strcmp(buf, "mypassword") == 0)
			printf ("Correct password\n");
		else printf ("Invalid password\n");
	}
	
	return(0);	
}

The strcmp() will never return 0. Why? Because the fgets() function puts the newline character into the buf array. This means that when the user enters
>mypassword<enter>
the newline is considered to be part of the string, and is used in strcmp(). The hardcoded password does not end with a newline. Therefore the two strings are different.

This is why you must remove the trailing newline character from the array before testing it against the hardcoded password.

Also, run this program (my code given here). You will notice the output is:

mypassword
You entered >mypassword
<
Invalid password

Note here that the < character is on the next line. This shows that the newline is part of the buf string.

[Tman]

Ok, when i said fgets(), i meant scanf() (I was tired last night and you know..) Just replace all the fgets() with scanf() on my second to last question.. *sigh*

[Hammer]

Originally posted by Tman
Ok, when i said fgets(), i meant scanf() (I was tired last night and you know..) Just replace all the fgets() with scanf() on my second to last question.. *sigh*

I kinda lost with this Can you repeat your question please.... What is it you want to know exactly?